Team places 4th, Miller places 3rd at Bolton

August 23, 2011

In this file photo, Punxsy's Ian Miller follows through on a shot on the second hole Friday at the Punxsutawney Country Club. Miller placed third overall at the Bolton Tournament in State College Monday. (Zak Lantz/The Punxsutawney Spirit)

STATE COLLEGE â€” Punxsy's boys' golf team, led by Ian Miller, placed fourth overall with a score of 245 in the Bolton Tournament Monday in State College.

Miller shot a 76 on the 18-hole course at Penn State's Blue Course, the same course Penn State's golf team plays, except the collegiate players tee off from the black tees.

His 76 was good enough for fourth best overall behind Abington Height's Eric Montella, who took first with a 72, and Bradford's Josh Stauffer, who shot a 74.

Each team's three best scores were counted out of the four golfers they played. Punxsy's Micky DeChurch shot an 83 for Punxsy's second-best score, and Eli Thompson rounded out the scoring for Punxsy, shooting a 100.

Miller's round was highlighted by birdies on the par-four No. 1 and the par-fives No. 12 and No. 18. DeChurch also had a chip-in par on the par-four No. 2.

Abington Heights took home the team title to accompany Montella's individual title, as well, scoring a 226. Mifflin County came in second with a 238; State College in third with a 244; and Punxsy just one stroke behind in fourth with a 245.

Overall, Punxsy coach Josh Conrad was pleased with the way his team played.

"The wind was pretty severe at times, today," he said. "So, it was good to see that they didn't let that shake them."

After struggling a bit in Punxsy's first match last week, Miller played the way Conrad knew he was capable of playing Monday.

"Ian played excellent," he said. "This is the kind of competition that he's going to have if he makes it through districts this year, so it's great to see that he was right in the hunt for medalist."

As for his other players, Conrad saw a lot of promise in the fact that they played an unfamiliar course as well as they did.

"Brandon and Eli did a good job considering they've never played the course before," he said. "I'm also starting to see some better course management from all the players. They're starting to look for trouble off of the tee and playing it safe instead of just grabbing the driver and going for it."